THE STORY OF THE BETTISCOMBE SKULL. 177 



My first note was in this wise : 



At a farmhouse in Dorsetshire at the present time, is carefully preserved a 

 human skull, which has been there for a period long antecedent to the present 

 tenancy. The peculiar superstition attaching to it is that if it be brought 

 out of the house the house itself would rock to its foundations, whilst the person 

 by whom such an act of desecration was committed would certainly die 

 within the year. It is strangely suggestive of the power of this superstition 

 that through many changes of tenancy and furniture the skull still holds its 

 accustomed place " unmoved and unremoved ! " 



Upon this the late Dr. Goodford, Provost of Eton, wrote 

 to " Notes and Queries " (p. 436) inquiring whether I had not 

 made a mistake as to the county, and stating that there 

 was a similar superstition attaching to a house at Chilton 

 Cantelo, in the adjoining county of Somerset. 



I may say here that the superstition, or variants of it, 

 attaching to this skull is not by any means peculiar to Dorset, 

 or even the West of England. 



I accordingly replied to Dr. Goodford (p. 509) giving him 

 further particulars, both as to the locality and what I had 

 heard of and about the skull. I there stated : 



The farmhouse (formerly, I believe, an old Manor house), now called Bettis- 

 combe House, in which the skull remained or still remains for aught I know 

 to the contrary, lies in the parish of Bettiscombe, about six miles from Bridport, 

 in Dorsetshire. I cannot ascertain tne time when this " ghostly tenant " took 

 up its abode in the place, but it is tolerably certain it was some considerable 

 time ago. It has, I understand, been pronounced to be that of a negro ; 

 and the legend runs that it belonged to a faithful black servant of an early 

 possessor of the property a Pinney who, having resided abroad some 

 years, brought home this memento of his humble follower. It is reported 

 that a member of the above family in recent years has visited the house, but 

 was unable to give any clue that might assist in clearing up the identity of the 

 skull. 



In 1883, some ten or a dozen years afterwards, I ascertained 

 from the Bridport News that a correspondent in a paper 

 called The Oracle had alluded to the superstition existing 

 with respect to the skull at Chilton Cantelo, and the Editor 



